HEALING NEVER ENDS by Sue Bowden

This year I have made some very important and healing connections in relation to my stroke which happened in 1993 when I was 22 years old. 

My stroke occurred 2 weeks after my husband and I lost our first baby Chelsea due to early onset Pre-eclampsia. It was a very hard and confusing time for us.

I was fortunate during my hospital and early rehab to have Prof Stephen Davis (now the President of the World Stroke Organisation and Director of the Melbourne Brain Centre at Royal Melbourne Hospital) involved in my treatment and recovery. 

My memories of Stephen are of him bounding into my ward with a huge smile, as he greeted my husband and me enthusiastically. I could barely respond at the time and remember his warm approach outweighed any difficult hospital memories. 

As a young couple from the country my husband and I gained great strength from his presence. Stephen spoke to us in a manner which said ‘we were cared for, he had a belief in us both and in my recovery. So we forged ahead with life after hospital - we still had a life to live!

Fast forward to 2016 - twenty-three years later, and I had the opportunity to meet up with Prof Stephen Davis again.

Over the years I had sent him Christmas cards, emails and photos, I had always wondered if he was aware of what a positive impact he’d made on Adrian and on myself.

I got to meet Stephen twice this year, and to be able to sit down next to him in person and tell him how much I appreciated the way he cared and treated me both medically and emotionally was priceless.

I immediately felt at peace about the ‘shame’ I had carried with me - how difficult recovery had been at times. 

To share with the people who treat us, how we truly appreciate what they did can make a huge difference in recovery. I am happy it is something I got the opportunity to do. I will never forget and will always be grateful for those moments.

This photo of Steve and I was taken earlier this month in Melbourne at the 20th Anniversary of the Stroke Foundation, the smiles on our faces say it all.

The healing never ends.